GT vs LSG: Hardik and Co underline title credentials with comprehensive win

Gujarat Titans once again underlined their credentials as title favourites in the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) with a comprehensive victory over Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

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The defending champions produced a solid all-round performance at their home turf of the Narendra Modi Stadium to collect their eighth win of the season and are currently on the verge of confirming themselves as the first team in the playoffs that begin later this month. The victory also solidifies their bid for a second consecutive title — a feat that has only been achieved by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI) in the past.

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Gujarat were on top from ball one after Lucknow invited them to bat in the battle of the Pandya brothers — with Hardik and Krunal leading GT and LSG respectively. And though they did get a scare at one point during the second innings, Gujarat would not relinquish control at any given point and would end up collecting another two points with a canter.

Gujarat openers Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha have been quite the force at the top of the order this season and the two were at it again on Sunday, with Saha assuming the role of the aggressor after smashing consecutive boundaries off Mohsin Khan in the first over.

The veteran wicketkeeper-batter would then collect a six and a four off Avesh Khan the following over, and from thereon, there was no looking back. GT would end up racing to 78 for no loss at the end of the powerplay, with 22 runs coming in Mohsin’s second over. Saha, meanwhile, was in a league of his own during the carnage, bringing up his first half-century of the season with a six off the last ball of the powerplay, taking 23 deliveries to reach the milestone.

The expansion of the field would not halt Gujarat’s charge as they raced to 121/0 at the halfway mark, with the possibility of breaching Royal Challengers Bangalore’s all-time record for the highest total appearing quite likely at that point. Lucknow, however, would break the marathon stand not long after, with Saha falling for 81 after an excellent catch at deep midwicket.

LSG had the chance to turn things around, especially since the aggressor was gone and they had the opportunity to dictate terms and try and restrict GT to around 200. Instead, Gill, carried on from where his opening partner left off, forging valuable partnerships with Hardik Pandya (25) and David Miller (21 not out), narrowly missing out on his maiden IPL hundred (94 not out) in the end.

Gujarat, meanwhile, had half the battle won by posting 227/2 on the board. All they had to do was ensure they did not offer too many gifts on what was a beautiful surface for batters for them to walk away with two points at the end of the contest.

Lucknow too possessed firepower at the top of their order; Kyle Mayers had been getting them off to sensational starts for the most part this season, and now the West Indian was joined by Quinton de Kock, who made his first appearance of IPL 2023 and remaining on the sidelines for so long, thanks in part to regular skipper KL Rahul’s injury.

And the Mayers-de Kock pair would send out a warning to other bowling lineups in the tournament of the kind of damage that they could inflict with a sensational opening partnership that would have had Gujarat skipper Hardik a little worried at one point despite the massive total on the board. After an excellent first over from Mohammed Shami that yielded just four runs, Mayers and de Kock would collect 68 off the next five to ensure LSG went neck-and-neck with GT in the first six over.

LSG could have had a real shot at pulling off a record chase had the opening partnership gone beyond the 10-over mark. Instead, it took a moment of brilliance from Rashid Khan, who pulled off a blinder near deep backward square leg off Mohit Sharma, bowling, for the momentum to swing back in Gujarat’s favour again.

“The way the game changed after that, at one point I thought the game was even stevens and that catch was match-changing. We were both driving at 100kph as a team but that catch caused a bump in their chase,” Hardik said after the game, referring to Rashid’s catch to dismiss Mayers.

It would indeed turn out to be game-changing moment as de Kock simply would not find the kind of support that he got from Mayers from any other batter, and though he fought on for a while to bring up a half-century in his first appearance of IPL 2023, the pressure got the better of him in the end as he was dismissed for a 41-ball 70 — with Rashid also involved in this dismissal.

QdK’s dismissal left LSG needing 87 to win off 24 deliveries with six wickets in hand and two new batters at the crease — simply too much, even for the most complete of teams.

With the game virtually sealed in their favour after de Kock’s exit, the cherry on the cake was veteran pacer Mohit finishing with a four-fer (4/29) — his second in the IPL — striking in each of his last two deliveries of the day.

GT have a few days off after this commanding victory, with Hardik squaring up against his old team Mumbai Indians at his old stomping grounds of the Wankhede Stadium on Friday, with a victory in that encounter all but sealing GT’s entry into the playoffs. LSG too have a breather, facing Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday in their next assignment, hoping to put this defeat behind by then.

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